From Florida to Notre Dame to Baltimore, Trey Mancini has been a star first basemen since his youngest years. His journey throughout his baseball career was tough, but even stage 3 colon cancer was not enough to stop him.
Mancini is from Winter Haven, Florida where he attended Winter Haven High School and made huge moves for their baseball program. Following high school baseball, he was offered a scholarship to continue his career at the University of Notre Dame where he played a crucial role in their program
Drafted in 2016, Mancini signed to the Baltimore Orioles organization, where he quickly became a fan favorite. His skill, combined with his heart and love for the game, made O's fans love him. He was a strong addition to the Baltimore lineup. Mancini ended with a .357 batting average in his first season with the Orioles, and added up 117 home-runs in his 5 seasons with the O's.
However, if one were to look at Mancini's stats, they would notice a blank spot in his stats for the year of 2020. This is not because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but because Mancini was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer towards the end of 2019. This caused him to miss the entirety of the shortened 2020 Major League Baseball season. Instead of taking this setback as a loss, he chose to take this opportunity to bring awareness to his diagnosis, and use his platform in a positive way.
Even when Mancini was undergoing treatments through a global pandemic, he was committed to being an advocate for cancer education and awareness. Although his goal was to return to Camden Yards with the O's for 2021 Opening Day, he was not just going to turn his back on the journey he had endured.
Mancini stated that even though he was eager to get back on the field, he could not go on without doing everything he could to help others struggling with the same diagnosis. He partnered with many organizations, including the Colorectal Cancer Alliance and Play Ball shortly after his diagnosis. Mancini claimed that he knew "given his line of work, that he could have an impact on people like they had on him", and an impact is an understatement for the change that Mancini was able to make. He raised over $80,000 for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance through t-shirt sales, and returned in 2021 to be named the American League Comeback Player of the Year.
Although the Orioles stood by Mancini during his journey with colon cancer, he was later traded to the Houston Astros in 2022 where he played for one season before he was off to Chicago. Mancini played for the Chicago Cubs for a year as well before he was traded to the Miami Marlins in 2024.
It is sad to say that Mancini no longer plays in the Major League, as the Marlins sent him back down to their minor league Triple-A team. Trey Mancini made a huge impact not only on the Orioles organization, but on the entire MLB fanbase along with individuals that are enduring cancer treatments. Mancini was a blessing to the sport, and will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Orioles fans.
Wow, knew nothing about this person until reading your information-rich piece. It's packed with facts and background information that make this person very human and three-dimensional. Good use of photos, but cutlines would be an opportunity to add more details. Also, we REALLY needs some links so we know where you're getting all this information. Let's also talk about varying paragraph structures to create some speed and rhythm. Great job!
ReplyDelete